Why Shane McMahon Threatened To Fire Ex-Tag Champion From WWE

Shane McMahon threatened to fire a former WWE star.

Buff Bagwell first gained traction due to his time in WCW, where he wrestled for 10 years. During this time, he was a World Tag Team Champion. He also joined the nWo for a couple of years.

After WCW shut its doors, Buff Bagwell’s contract was picked up by WWE. He got to wrestle for the sports entertainment juggernaut for a while. However, his time in the company didn’t last long, as he was fired within that same year. He was allegedly fired because his mom used to call WWE offices to request that Bagwell get some time off to heal from his injury. However, Buff Bagwell has maintained that he didn’t know why he was fired from the company.

Shane McMahon gave Buff Bagwell some stern instructions before his WWE debut

On the 2nd July 2001 episode of RAW, Buff Bagwell made his WWE debut against Booker T for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. During a recent appearance on Kings of the Ring, Buff Bagwell recalled his WWE debut. He questioned why WWE wouldn’t wait till Atlanta for their match instead of having it take place in Tacoma, Washington. Before the match, he remembers Shane McMahon coming up to him in the locker room and telling him not to look at the camera or he would be fired.

“The next week was Atlanta, Georgia. Now my question to you is if you’re the WWF, would you wait to put Booker T and Buff Bagwell in Atlanta, Georgia or do it in Tacoma, Washington?… The match, the angle was called the invasion. Why not invade Atlanta with Booker T and Buff Bagwell instead? We went on a WWF show and got booed as soon as we walked out. Tragic.

So they told me, I remember being in the locker room and me and Booker are whispering back there like, ‘Hey man, why are we wrestling this week? Why wouldn’t we wait till next week?’ And nobody was really… you can’t ask them that. We’re just wondering, you know. In the middle of all that wondering why we wouldn’t just wait for a week and be in WCW in Atlanta, Shane McMahon appeared in the locker room. And I mean, as soon as he appeared, I’ve been in this business enough to know that it wasn’t good. And as soon as he appeared, I tried to find a set of eyes that could see Shane McMahon talking to me. And I couldn’t find a set of eyes nowhere.

And Shane McMahon goes, ‘Don’t look in the camera.’ And I said, ‘Shane, that’s all I do.’ I said, ‘I look in the camera. I talk in the camera. I pose. And I’m a pretty good wrestler. That’s all I do.’

He goes, ‘If you look in the camera, you’re fired.’”

Buff Bagwell then explained that he didn’t look in the camera during his match against Booker T because he is a company man.

“So what I ask you guys to do is go back and look at the last two matches Marcus Alexander Bagwell had on WCW, or Buff Bagwell, the last two matches, and count how many times I talk in the camera. And then watch the Booker T match. Zero times do I talk or look in the camera because I’m a company guy. I did what they asked me to do.”

The former WWE star claimed that even Booker T was given instructions before the match, but he has no idea what they were. He also said that the entire thing looked forced instead of letting it naturally unfold in Atlanta, Georgia.

“And they also had told Book—I never talked to Booker about this—but they also told Booker something… Then it was Arn Anderson and Scott Hudson as the announcers… And then Stacy Keibler, for the first and only time of her career, announces me and Booker T. So it was just very weird. All of it was very strange. I don’t know the answer. I don’t know why. I just know it was very weird to have all of that happen when it looked forced instead of it just naturally happening the next week in Atlanta and the crowd go crazy that Buff Bagwell and Booker T walk out.” [H/T Ringside News]

Buff Bagwell should’ve gotten a longer run in WWE.

Also read: WCW Legend Buff Bagwell Has Leg Amputated

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